This photo is sadly washed out, but I love that Marina was relaxing on Jonathan ;)

It's been more than a year since I started watching Star Trek. I've become very enamored with the message of the show, the intriguing storylines and the wonderful characters. And with so many different series, it is such a rich world! So last week I went to the Star Trek convention in San Francisco. To tell the truth, the fact that so many of the TNG cast was going to be there was the major draw. Unfortunately I just haven't gotten to watching Voyager and Enterprise yet, and most of the other actors were from those series. I hope I don't really regret not getting their autograph! (Although autographs and photo-ops are so pricey!)

For the sake of the length of this post I'll pass over all the stress I had getting to San Francisco (and later getting out!) because of the storm and delayed flights. I arrived and was ready to go Friday morning. The TNG crew weren't there right when the convention started though so I spent time in the main room where they held all the panels and talks. I have to say that the convention was on a much smaller scale than I was expecting. I've only been to the Doctor Who convention here in L.A., and it has multiple panel rooms and a much larger vendor room. There are some pros and cons to smaller conventions I think, and one of the cons is that there's not alot going on. Going through the vendor room was quick, and there were a few panels I was not that interested in seeing. Mostly if it was one of the actors talking, I really wanted to see that. I did see two of the actors to play Klingons - Robert O'Reilly (Gowron) and J.G. Hertzler (Martok) and they were both in full Klingon makeup! So I have no idea what they really look like. But it was very cool to see them walking around completely made up. Garrett Wang and Robert Picardo were there as well and I was glad I caught their panel - originally Sean Kenney was doing a talk, but his flight was delayed so they put on Garrett and Robert together and they were really fun to listen to! Unfortunately I wasn't familiar with their characters.

Around noon, I noticed the first TNG cast member at his signing table - Brent Spiner! YAY! Data is my favorite, so Brent was priority 1 for me. I managed to tell him how much I enjoyed his album Dreamland and also I had him sign my commonplace book and when he asked me what I would like him to write, I couldn't think of anything so he said 'here' and wrote something down. I read it back after and lo and behold he actually just wrote "here". That amused me. He also called me darling! ;) Michael Dorn came in soon after that and after pretending to punch Brent in the face, he went to his table. I got his autograph and asked him why he didn't tweet anymore, and he gave a shake of his head and said he gave it up. Marina Sirtis was next and the funny thing was when I went up to her, the first thing she said was that I'm beautiful! Which was so lovely, but when I was waiting in line for her, I was just thinking how gorgeous she was and still is, so maybe she is half betazoid? :D With Jonathan Frakes I told him how I used to watch Beyond Belief with my family when I was younger (has anyone seen that show?) and we talked a bit about that.

The big panel that Friday evening was the TNG reunion talk which was a glorious hour-ish of stories and teasing. I made a quick audio of what I thought was one of the funniest moments in the talk when someone asked what was the worst scenes/episodes of Star Trek the cast had to act in. Hilarious bashing of 'Code of Honor' and 'Justice' ensue.

Saturday, my friends were able to meet up with me at the convention, but they aren't big Trek fans, so they weren't really as into it, I could tell. So since I had accomplished most everything I wanted to accomplish the day before, I suggested we head over to the nearby shopping town of Burlingame and that is what we did. We made it back in the late afternoon though because I wanted to see Kate Mulgrew's panel. Since she was the only captain at the convention. And you. guys. Kate Mulgrew is an amazing woman! I could not believe how much I adored her just from hearing her speak. She has such presence and grace! She talked about the circumstances behind her writing her first book - a memoir (which sounds really interesting, and not out yet) and then segued into talking about working on Orange is the New Black. And then took questions which she answered with humor and sometimes biting truth. Someone asked her if there was sexism on the series while she was on and how she dealt with it, and it was kind of heartbreaking how strongly she wanted Captain Janeway to be regarded just as highly as the other Captains, but there were times when the people behind the scenes struggled with letting her just be the Captain. And then there was a question about a quote of which I'm not sure of the origin - perhaps someone can let me know here - something about coming from oblivion and going back into oblivion(?). Kate then talked about facing death and how it's not a cause for despair but to appreciate life which is wondrous in itself. I was so moved by her answer (which of course I can't do justice to in this post.) I am really looking forward to watching Voyager now and seeing what the show is all about.

Queen Kate Mulgrew!

I didn't attend the convention on Sunday (even though George Takei was going to be there!) because I had plans to go to the Dicken's Christmas Faire that day and that was a ton of fun! I didn't really do as much at this convention as I was expecting. I mean I accomplished everything I wanted, but I was expecting more to do. I think the way it was organized was a bit awkward - with such short photo-op opportunities, and the fact that unless you had a Gold or Silver ticket you had to re-register every day (so annoying). Also annoying that we had to re-register for the 'special' TNG reunion panel. I think the Doctor Who convention (Gallifrey One) is much better run, and much more fan-friendly so in a way I'm not really keen to do another Star Trek convention run by Creation Entertainment. Unless they have some stars I really want to see. Of course I am so happy I went though, and I had a great experience meeting the actors!